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Syonan Jinja Investigation
Since the year 2000, SPI has been staking out haunted houses,
chasing apparitions, gathering evidence of the paranormal. The
team has been working the supernatural beat. The sites of
paranormal investigation range from cemeteries to residential
houses. However, it was the first time SPI was staking out an
infamous Syonan Jinja ruin that was the only unique Shinto Shrine
ever existed in Singapore history.
It is generally believed that abandoned Shinto Shrines have a
reputation in Japan for being most haunted by all kinds of spirits. For Syonan Jinja in Singapore, that has been buried in wild
jungle at MacRitchie Reservoir for decades, that should be no
exception when it comes to haunting. SPI opted to scientifically examine the ghostly
phenomena at Syonan Jinja.
In this investigation, SPI team was joined by Dr. Kenna, twin
brother of Kenny, a consultant in clinical psychiatry in Australia
and a Tibetan Buddhist monk who claimed to have psychic power from
years of his cultivation in communicating with the spiritual
realm. Dr. Kenna said, "In Australia I research experiences such
as hallucinations, spirit possession and exorcising. But to
arrange the sort of investigation we are embarking on in Syonan
Jinja is challenging because we have no clue about the haunting
there. I am very excited about the whole project and would give
SPI my best possible advices.'' Dr. Kenna also commented that
''ghost encounters'' were often partly attributable to fear of an
unusual environment especially in a wild jungle at night.
In December 2003, a team of elite SPI investigators braved the
lost Syonan Jinja in the heart of the jungle to investigate a
spate of alleged supernatural sightings and spiritual activity.
Armed with a thermal imager, geomagnetic sensors, tri-field EMF meter,
Geiger recorder, night- vision goggles and temperature probes, SPI
set off to stake out the lost shrine where the ghosts of the
British prisoners of war who were labored to build the shrine, and
martyred Japanese soldiers are supposed to roam.
In addition to their usual ghost hunting gadgets, Dr. Kenna had
personally sponsored some ritual items that could be used as a
bait for those lost souls. And Kenny, from his electronic
laboratory rolled out some special lighting equipment and a camera
prototype with a lens that is particularly modified for capturing paranormal
phenomena. These items would be described in the latter parts of
the journal.
¡@
 
1 & 2. This is the information centre
and the security guard on duty; 3. At night the ambience turned
greenish and spooky;
4. A headless entity was spotted standing there. It was not noticed
when the photo was taken until much later. Is it a headless ghost,
a jaga whose complexion blend into the background or something else??
Back to the Track
The day was drawing to its end, and cold stars were glinting in
the sky high above the sunset, when the SPI team, with all the speed
they could, hiked pass a couple of slopes from a main road and reached the side of the
lake just off the country club. In breath it looked to be no more than two or three furlongs
at the widest point. How far it stretched away eastward they
could not see in the failing light; but its northern end was no
more than half a mile from where they stood, and between the wild
bushes that enclosed the inlet and the water's edge there was a
rim of open round. They hurried forward, for they had still a mile
or two to go before they could reach the ranger station centre
that marked as the starting point of the long jungle march into
the shrine.
Before long, the team reached the ranger station. It was built
with a modern architecture and the washroom was reasonably clean.
Most importantly, SPI coveted to talk to the local rangers in MacRitchie Reservoir about any paranormal instance associated to
the lost shrine. Luckily the team bumped into an experienced
ranger called Mr Teo, 41 years old who was on duty for that night.
He was leisurely making a cup of coffee behind the counter when we
met him.
As a mistake, Abductboy bluntly asked Mr Teo whether the shrine
ruin was haunted. Defensively Teo would only deny, and said "No,
no, no, no ghost is here. I guarded here for many years, never
seen one. Never!" Knowing that a direct confrontation won't
work, with a softer note, Ah Toh tactfully asked "We
meant to find out how this place is 'haunted' by history. For
instance, is there any special events or secret locations in this
reserve park related to the war?" When questioned about the
history, Teo become more talkative now.
He started by telling us how this reservoir was used as a military
reserve hub both by the British and the Japanese armies during the
war. Tons of ammunition supply and weaponry were stored in the
area. Now of course most of them got excavated. But if there was
any ammunition still left behind, nobody knows. The investigators persuaded Teo further for more
information, such as lost treasure or hidden secret, pertaining to
the shrine ruin. However, the ranger only spoke of the history of
the shrine that was already known. That was the kind of standard
answer expected, and they
gave up.
Twilight was about them as they crept back to the lane. The west
wind was sighing in the branches. Leaves were whispering. Soon the
lane to the shrine began to fall gently but steadily into the dusk. A star came
out above the trees in the darkening East before them. They went
abreast and in step, to keep up their spirits. They knew that at
least they had to trek for two hours in the midst of thick
vegetation before reaching the destination. After a time, as the stars grew thicker and brighter,
the feeling of disquiet left them. But for Kenny, who had fallen
sick after the first visit to this jungle not too long ago, still
kept a phobia about this place. He declared to himself by word,
"No fear, we are back to the track. Back to the track to uncover
the mystery of this legendary shrine ruin." SPI was back to the
track.
¡@
 
1. A large abandoned trench that used
to serve a cluster of buildings there; 2 - 4. Ruins of some buildings
that are beyond recognition
 
1 - 3. What left today are only bricks
and pillars; 4. This platform has metal stubs protruding out.
It looks as if a base for holding something. Wouldn't it be a cannon
mounted on it in the old days?
Crypto Ruin Site #1
Where they stopped was deep in the jungle, covered by thick canopy
of tall tree branches. The track was almost pitch dark and badly infested
by mosquitoes. The way leading to the Shinto shrine would take a
turn on the right off from the main track. But something standing
at about twenty feet away on the left captivated their attention.
That was a ruin site of some unknown building. In fact it was not
qualified to be called a 'building'; what currently remained were
only a few pillars, stumps, slabs and walls, made by either concrete and
cedar brown bricks.
Those remains were conveniently scattered around the area measured
by no more than two hundred square feet. The investigators
wondered what they were used for originally. One cannot quite
distinguish what style of architecture that the structure belonged
to. It was too plain and too crude. The ruins were of simple
rectangular shapes of chunks, in different sizes. By judging on
the weathering conditions of the ruins and comparing them to the
old tomb stones in Bukit Brown Cemetery, it was supposed
that the age of
the building should not exceed a hundred years old.
What were they used for? In particular, the investigators found
that a concrete slab of half the size of a table-tennis table, was
having a number of metal stubs protruding out. The nails or just
metal stubs looked as if they some tools for mounting a heavy item on
top. With wild guesses, one would speculate the item that once
erected on the slab could be a machinery, statue, cannon, crank, pole,
tower, etc?
May be archaeologists will have an answer.
Nonetheless, SPI thought it may be an abandoned Pneudraulic
installation (or water utility station) that once harbored
equipment like hydraulic pumps, water pipes, water gate, valves,
actuator or drainage system. The evidence supporting this
hypothesis was the existence of a huge drainage trench nearby. The reservoir area
had gone through several expansions since it was first opened in
1967.
Here goes a bit of history about the place: Before the early 19th
century, most of the island was covered in primary lowland dipterocarp forest. Between 1820 and 1870, a substantial portion
of virgin forest was cleared to develop the island as an important
trading post. Prior to this, many Chinese planters had also worked
the land for timber and the cultivation of crops like gambier,
pepper and rubber. By 1886, only 10% of the original forest cover
remained. The development of MacRitchie Reservoir (then known as
the Impounding Reservoir) in 1868 brought the forest destruction
around the area to a halt. The forest around the reservoir was
protected as a water catchment reserve.
¡@
Water catchment areas in Singapore: 1.
Map, 2. Aerial view
 
1 & 2. Walking into a dark jungle ... 3
& 4. The bamboo cluster, indicating it is the right way to Shinto
Shrine
 
Tree leaves, tree roots and vines
dangle and hinder over your way; Sometimes you just don't know they
are dead are alive
 
1. The land is extremely humid in a
tropical jungle. The soil that you step on is damp and slippery
2 - 4. Live and dead vegetation lining up your way
Crypto Ruin Site #2
The hurrying darkness, now gathering great speed, rushed up from
the East and swallowed the sky.
As nightshade was closing about them SPI halted to catch a breath. The
young moon was glimmering in
a misty sky, but it gave small light, incapable to penetrate
through the canopy of tree branches, and the stars were veiled.
The SPI grew very weary. They advanced slowly, for they had to
pick their way through a pathless vegetation, encumbered by fallen
tress and tumbled rocks. Indeed much courage is needed to trek through this jungle in darkness.
Fear grew from time to time, as you advanced in such a deserted
place you would never know what was behind you. The team was
marching towards the direction of the water skirt from the North
of the inland. The terrain was surrounded by broad swamps and a
mixture of lush greenery and dead woods. The humidity escalated
and so did the perspiration rate of their sweat on their bodies.
After SPI descended a steep slope of about 10 feet height and
trekked further through a flooded beaten track, they stood now on the brink of a
small cliff, bare and bleak, their
feet wrapped in mist. When lied in front of them was a secluded
broken house hiding behinds many slender trees situated on the bottom of
a cliff. Patches of moulds were growing on the walls of the building that
were once painted white, providing a perfect natural green
camouflage to blend into the backdrop of the woods.
One cannot really see clearly the house behind the trees unless he climbed down the
cliff. The soil was very slippery and the gradient of the cliff
looked steep. With a safety belt buckled around the waist and by
following a carefully planned route
utilizing the slender tree trunks as hand-grips, inch by inch, the
investigators climbed down the slope.
¡@
 
Who knows what an important secret
house was hiding behind the bush that may relate to the lost treasure?
 
1 & 2. The front of the house as viewed
from a upper slope; 3. The side view and 4. The back view. The house
is sitting on a basin.
Now they could have a very close up
of the house like never before. The paints were badly washed off
but it was not as bare as the previous ruin discovered earlier on.
The house was stripped and broken.
With a closer look, one can easily conclude that the damage was
made deliberately. Holes were blasted through on the walls. They
appeared like traces left over after certain missing pieces got
forcibly stripped out. Some rusted metal pieces like broken ribs
were jutting out in all directions. Before the destruction, the
metal parts seemed to be the brackets and pipes holding and
connecting respectively to the missing machineries.
Noticeably, the house was flooded by a pond of murky water. It
looked bottomless. However, vaguely, a staircase at the far right
corner could be seen immersed in the water. It led deep down to
the bottom or somewhere unknown, that could not be confirmed by
visual inspection.
How could the depth of the water be measured? The investigators
picked up a vine and used it as a yard stick. It was held as
precisely as possible, perpendicular to the water surface. Slowly
the stick was dipped into the water until it hit the bottom. Then
it was pull up and measured on the wetted part of the stick that
showed a slightly darker colour. The water level was 1.76 meter
deep, more than enough to drown someone without doubt.
As a matter of fact the investigators visited the broken house
several times, both day and night. And it was always flooded with
a substantial level of water. This led to another intriguing
question. Why wouldn't the water be evaporated away? Is the water
connected to somewhere such as a swamp, a lake, a reservoir or any
large body of water? If so, that implied a large pipe or some kind of
underground tunnel existed. This then prompted further questions
since that means the possibility of having a network of
underground tunnels may hold true. For the time being, it was
assumed true as a hypothesis.
But who built these tunnels in the wild jungle? Quite likely it
would be either the British or the Japanese army, or both one
after another. It was well know that British military forces were
good at constructing underground bunkers and tunnels known as
casemates for war
tactics and ammunition storage. Take the underground installation
in Labrador Park and Changi as examples. During the war, Bukit
Timah hill that was nearby was used as a heavy storage
concentration of army supply such as food, arms and fuels. It was
hence reasonable to believe that such similar installation could
be found in MacRitchie reservoir.
As one of the purposes of this expedition, SPI sought to explore
the truth behind the rumor of the lost marvelous sacred object
that was once housed in the Syonan Jinja. On one hand the
investigators were excited about the discovery of a possible entry
to the secret underground bunker or casemate. That could connote a possible
hideout for the lost treasure that they were looking for if it had
ever existed. On the other hand, disappointment was overwhelming
their excitement because they all knew that it would never be easy
to gain access into the underground bunker for the following
obstacles.
Firstly, the area was almost totally flooded, technically it was
difficult for anyone except divers with scuba kit to find the way
in. Secondly, this swamp area is well known infested by
crocodiles. Such flooded trench would be a perfect hideout for
them. Who knows how many crocodiles or whatever dangerous
creatures are taking habitat and breeding in the flooded
underground caves? Furthermore the house was deliberately
destroyed by the army after the war as an effort to conceal this
secret. They would certainly ensure that the explosion caused the
entry to whatever secret chamber be permanently sealed off by
falling rumbles, just like how they did in the underwater tunnel
linking from Labrador park to Sentosa. The chance of going into
the underground chamber would therefore be almost zero.
The lost Shinto treasure under our speculation may be just a paper
scroll. It would be dissolved already if it was soaked in water
for about half a century long, unless it was kept in a water-proof
container. The last but not the least reason; some amount of
digging would be required if one really want to break into the
underground chamber. MacRitchie Reservoir had belonged to National
Park. In order words, officially it is a state land and any
attempt of digging in a national park would face a penalty of jail
terms and fine by law.
Though it was a bit of despair, SPI decided to leave the place
intact and moved on to the main shrine ruin.
¡@
 
1. A flooded stair case, where is it
leading to?
2 - 4. The damage in the house can be easily seen by the holes and the
broken metal supports and pipes. An orb is observed in pic 3.
 
1. Abductboy was carefully studying the
strange house.
2 & 3. Azri used a primitive but effective method to measure the depth
of the water; 4. A deep trench is just beside the house
1 & 2. These two pictures were taken
during day time. The water was flooding the stair case
3. A bold artist impression of the speculation of secret underground
military bunkers underneath the jungle
On the other side of the coin,
nevertheless, the hypothesis that it was a secret underground
bunker could be totally wrong. The broken house could probably be
the water pump room in the old days. And now it was simply
outdated, replaced by a more sophisticated pump room somewhere
else and thus abandoned.
Another similar broken house was found further up along the trail
to the shrine. It had a similar structure and piping equipment to
the one before. A deep flooded trench was also discovered beside
the house. So are the broken houses just retired water utility
sheds? With more than 10 years working experiences in construction sites
like Jurong Island Industrial Plants and Changi Airport, Abductboy
asserted firmly "positive" to the question.
¡@
 
1. Another similar guard house on the
other side of the shrine ruin
You never know how many other houses are hidden in the jungle to be
discovered
1. From a distance, there are two
houses connected to each other;
2. There is also a large den flooded with water. Nobody knows if it
connects to any secret underground chamber
 
1. Even during day time, the house is
hidden behind dense vegetation, not so easy to get noticed
2 - 4. Secret chambers, passages, tunnels and entries can be found
from other building structures all over the world
Syonan Jinja Was Finally Found
Kenny found himself loaded with a burden, as the secret of the
lost Shinto treasure was
accidentally entrusted to his knowledge three years ago. He and
his SPI team must venture into the ruin of the shrine
through a perilous journey across the hostile jungle, deep inside the territories of the unknown,
to verify the legend. Further projects would involve working with
South East Asia Archaeology group from National History Board that
have excavated Kampong Glam and Fort Canning, to further study
about this place.
As for now, after trekking for about two hours in darkness, they
finally reached the foot of the shrine's ruin. Very excitedly, the
team roved the place for surveying and detailed data collection.
The shrine's ruin is situated on top of a knoll, and the slope is
pretty steep but quite easily for one to climb up. It seems that
the stairway is the only option for access to the shrine.
The land area is about the size of two soccer fields according to
the photos provided by National Heritage Board. But the
investigators suppose it could be bigger because they had come
across a couple of Japanese style concrete/stone lamps about 200
meters away from the stairways. Ah Toh had done a site estimate:
Based on the measurement of his 68 steps that is equivalent to
roughly 100 meters for the length of the stairway. He had walked
around the concrete perimeter of the main ruins on top of the
knoll, the area size is about 80 meters by 70 meters. He felt that
could be bigger because the northern part of the ruins was
partially covered by heavy vegetation, or probably part of the
flooring was destroyed deliberately.
¡@
 
1. A long trail of concrete drainage
trench can be traced near the shine ruin
2 - 4. Stone rubbles from the shrine ruin are seen everywhere buried
under some overgrowing plants
 
Abductboy was investigating all the way
up to the stair case
In the face of the knoll there was a
crumbled stair
that showed its way prominently all the way up; it was night time perhaps,
its top was out of sight immersed in darkness. It was seen that
the stair, artificially made of stone and of almost evenly spaced,
stretched high up, almost level with the
tops of forest-trees. Wild vegetation over-grown to partially
cover the stairs on the sides or else the stairways would be
wider. On top, you could see almost every kind of plants
grew there from grasses and weeds, to shrubs and tall trees. The
dense foliages were obviously competing each other for survival by
growing high and tall. You would see a contrast mix of lush green
and dead woods on the ruin area. There was a old
stump of a tree with only two bent branches left - it looked
almost like the figure of some gnarled old man, standing there,
blinking in the spooky moon-light.
'Up we go!' said Abductboy joyfully. 'Now for a breath of air, and a
sight of the shrine'. On top of the stairways, they rested and
pulled out an array of equipment from the bags that comprises all
sorts of meters and detectors.
Before they indulged into busy checking out the whole ruin site,
Kenny said a prayer as if paying tribute to the Shinto.
¡@
 
We found the stone drinking basin,
covered by lush plants
 
These are the most prominent ruin
structures that can be seen today
 
1. Spiky hard shell; 2. Edge of a stone
foundation ruin;
3. Kenny is starting up a computer program, getting ready for some
interesting experiment;
4. On the other side, Abductboy hoisted a ghost lamp on the tree
In this example, the UV lamp revealed the secret watermark from a bank
note that could not be seen with normal lights
The Ghost Hunt Began
Here SPI was at the Syonan Jinja ruin finally. The team of
paranormal investigators got ready the advanced
instrumentation to sniff out spirits in the vicinity of the shrine
ruin covering the whole knoll. The abandoned shrine was believed
to be very haunted due to its historical significance and the tale
that many Japanese soldiers had committed ritual suicide called
Seppuku there at the end of the war. The level of haunting should
exceed that of Old Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Batok. That is
because religiously the martyrs who died under the cult of Seppuku
would want to choose near a sacred place. In Shinto belief, those
who died in heroic gory like Seppuku will become Kami - a pure and
holy form of spirits. Thus conducting Seppuku near Shinto Shrine
would bring them closer to gods.
Alleged spirits residing in a deserted Shinto shrine especially
like this one in the wild jungle, may include the restless ghosts
of the Japanese warriors and the British prisoner-of-war (died
either by accidents, diseases or exhaustion), mischievous spirits,
earth deities, wandering spirits of the jungle and even demons.
True enough, there might have been special reasons for this
particular hillock deep in the jungle to build the Syonan Jinja.
Jinja in Japanese means a very sacred land. There may exist some
special energy force either spiritual or cosmic from geomancy
perspective that is unknown to modern science yet.
The plot of investigation basically emphasized on the concept of
bait and catch, with a touch of Buddhism ritual that is similar to
Shinto. A centerpiece of offering bait would be set up on the
pillar stone stumps, for luring the lost souls that had been
sentimentally attached to the shrine. Surrounding the bait, high
tech gadgets would be mounted for capturing any slight paranormal
movement.
Armed with light
sensors, night-vision goggles, EMF meters, baro-thermometers and a thermal imaging camera,
the investigation team hoped
to find spirits, or at least signs of supernatural activities. It
sounds like a wild goose chase worthy of an X-Files episode, but
the determined researchers used methodic and scientifically
sound techniques as much as possible. Even before the actions
started, they detected a number of 'cold spots' -
a supposed spectral footprint left behind by ghosts.
¡@
 
1. These are Buddhism spirits' passports
for setting free the earthbound spirits to the destination that they
should go
2 - 4. Kenny said, "All the props are ready. We can start off the
experiment"
 
1. On stone stump 1, the bait is a
bamboo sake wine and the spirits passport that would be incinerated
later
2. The ghost view of the stone stump #1
2. On stone stump #2, four offering cups were placed that would later
be filled with sake wine
4. The ghost view of the stone stump #2
 
1 & 2. As the experiment starts, Ah Toh
was carefully pouring the wine on each sake cup, solemnly; 3. Ghost
view
4. Accurately, Ah Toh measured the content level of the cups at the
beginning of the experiment and compare the level at the end
In less than an hour, the equipment
was fully ready and the bait was arranged. There was a little
glitch however. Some equipment like the laptop computer, the
central processing unit that connected the sensors and the video
camera refused to start up in the beginning. It took the computer
to reboot at least half dozen times before it kicked started. This
place really gave the investigators a creep. But Kenny supposed it
was just due to the high humidity in the tropical rainforest that
embraced them. Every surface was moist and damped. The fallen
leaves on the ground were decomposing in a film of moisture. The
relative highest air humidity recorded in the atmosphere was over
95%.
When everything was ready, the investigators started the
experiment based on the ghost hunting tips by Joshua Warren plus
more. The extra was the authentic ritual items and charms
sponsored by Kenna, our consultant cum research specialist on
Tibetan Buddhism. The bait would be elaborated later on.
Here is a list of seven basic tips for hunting ghosts:
-
Rule out the conventional. Explore the premises and determine
if conventional noises or phenomena may be causing what seems to
be ghostly activity. (However, in a jungle here, you were wrong if
you think the jungle is quiet. It was full of mating sounds of
insects, sometimes monkeys and noises of wood cracking from the
trees.)
-
Detect any strange energy fields, using a compass or similar
device or something sensitive to electromagnetism. (In SPI
experiments, we stepped up the number of energy fields that
could be scientifically detected, such as ion level,
radioactive, radio signals and all kinds of atmospheric
attributes that you can find from a Physics textbook.)
-
Photograph the area using a high shutter speed and sensitive
film (800 or higher). If possible, use a digital camera with
infrared sensitivity. (For SPI experiments, only the top of the
range cameras with the highest resolution settings and the most
refined camera lens are used. It costs a lot of money, but the
results really worth the investment. In most cases, both filmed
and digital cameras were used for non-biased results.)
-
Observe any suspect activity by strobe light. Similar to a
camera's flash, a strobe enhances your ability to see something
that is moving quickly. (An Ultra-violent lamp was used instead.)
-
Ghosts can appear anywhere, but
places with a strong or
unusual history seem to host ghostly activity more often.
(Yes, now SPI was in a jungle-bound abandoned Shinto Shrine ruin
that was built and then destroyed with so much vengeance from
the two rival armies.)
-
Peak time for ghost hunting is between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
because the sun's radiation cannot distort the electromagnetic
field during this time. (This experiment started at almost
midnight and it lasted for as long as it took. It fitted very
well in the recommended time frame.)
-
Use a dehumidifier indoors. This
increases the amount of electrostatic energy that builds up.
There's a strong correlation between electrostatic energy and
apparitions. (Negative. This was a tropical rainforest.)
¡@
 
The candles are giving off much
spiritual light to the ambience
 
1. The whole experiment setup is
completed. Eerie Shinto music was playing off from the laptop
computer; 2 - 4 Ghost views
A Special Bait for a Special Hunt
Much thoughts were given to it when designing the right bait by Kenna who was the specialist in Buddhism rituals and exorcism.
According to his experiences, ghosts are generally attracted to
the omni energies emitted off from white candles. Not ordinary
ones but these ghosts are. Extremely vengeful, rancorous, bitter,
resentful, ruthless and hateful for the fact that they died of an
enormous abhorrence accusing the world for the defeat of the war.
Albeit for the extreme brutal pain that they had to go through by
the Seppuku suicide, it was not known that their brave souls could
have or have not transformed effectively to Kami. The Shinto
shrine that once housed the Kami as well as the martyr souls
supposed to dwell got blown up. The shrine was blasted to ground
zero soon after the war was lost. Left with nothing but rubbles
and tremendous sadness to the lost souls.
Since the shrine ruin was just abandoned in the secluded jungle,
quite unlikely that any condolence ritual in any religion for
guiding them to the netherworld was performed. The souls would be
earth-bound, fierce and revengeful indeed. Kenna said that as well
as a stake-out experiment, much merit would be cultivated if
someone would go and conduct a blessing ritual. The larger scale
the better.
In the light of this, Kenna furnished SPI with the following
ritual items as the bait of the experiment and some offering for
the pitiable souls as well.
-
49 pieces of spiritual passport
notes, imprinted with Kenna's talisman on the back. When burned,
they would effect steering the lost souls to the other
dimension; in other words, guiding them away from this suffering
world that doesn't belong to them any longer.
-
A bottle of first-grade ancient
Japanese sake, brewed in an authentic bamboo container.
-
4 fine-bone china ritual cups,
purified by water that soaked with grapefruit leaves and
mantras.
-
49 blessing candles, chanted with
Buddhism prayers (The Great Merciful Mantra) for each individual
one of them.
-
And a confidential prayer that the
investigator had to recite both at the beginning and the end of
the ritual.
Given all these, if performed
properly, they would guarantee that the ghosts will come but they
may not be sufficiently appeased according to Kenna. The spirits
might have 'evolved' into something more dangerous and demonic
throughout the years in the jungle, given the amount of unresolved
hatred. Hence such mischievous spirits would not proactively
appreciate the effect of the offerings, apart from just sucking
the spiritual energy, unless a stronger ritual approach was
adopted by a senior.
Anyway, to the investigators, these ritual items were already
bizarre enough for the sake of making a bait. Kenna however felt
somewhat worried for them because he got to hurriedly leave
Singapore for business before they embarked on the expedition to
the shrine. Before he left, strongly Kenna commanded them to
remember one thing when doing the investigation with his ritual
items: Never promise the spirit on anything for whatsoever reason
it offered. Never!
¡@
 
1 - 3. As indicated by the green arrow,
the ghost lamp is hoisted high on a tree, emitting unique UV lights to
the offering setup
4. Under this reproduced ghost view, we see how possibly a spirit can
be attracted to the offering
 
1 & 2. Close up of the offering candle
lights in normal visible light spectrum
3 & 4. Close up of the offering candle lights in special energy wave
spectrum that is believed to possibly lure spirits
In addition to Kenna's ritual items
being the bait, a few technological innovations were inputted to
the ghost hunting gadgets too in this investigation. An UV lamp
was blended to a fluorescent lamp used in the stake-out. Nobody
had established the relation of the higher end of the frequency
spectrum to spectral activities. But the investigators were keen
to find out the possibilities. If budget allows in a due course,
soon we would even use large phosphorescent and x-ray
fluorescence.
A computer screen repeatedly displaying the historical photos of
Syonan Jinja, and most importantly the photo of the Japanese
Imperial flag. It was hoped that these relevant depictions would
arouse the residues of the memories left behind by the deceased. (details)
Lastly, special camera lens were used with some classified
techniques, so to mimic the vision of ghosts. In order to effect
this, several mediums were consulted. The mediums used to
communicate countless ghosts every day, hence knowing what are
they engrossed to, what particular colors do they perceive in the
dark, and how these colors correspond to aura as seen by the
people who have third eyes. This is perhaps the first of its kind
audacious approach in ghost research community. A pending patent
would be acquired based on this invention. Nonetheless, such
'ghost view' approach by SPI does not serve as a scientific mean
to objectively research in spectral activities. That is because no
live person can confirm exactly how a ghost can see things until
he became a ghost. The innovative 'ghost view' only meant to
provide the investigators a visual clue on how the bait looks
appealing to the spirits. Further usages are still being explored
yet.
¡@
 
1 & 2. The ancient bamboo sake, served
as a main element in this offering feast
3. Reproduction of spectral view on how ghost perceive the sake
offering; 4. Close up to the words written on the white stripe of
cloth
 
1 - 3. Top down view of the sake
offering; 4. Phantom view
 
The words on the white cloth: Famous
Wine for the Japanese Imperial Military
In the bait collection, there was one
unique piece of item known as the ancient sake wine. Sake
(sometimes known as Saki) is a traditional Japanese alcoholic
drink made from rice. Its custom can be traced back to medieval
times. It can be consumed cold or hot, and its sensation differs
by its age, brewing methods and the containers used. In this
particular sake, that SPI used as a bait, the sake was stored in a
bamboo tube. It was a rural and primitive way of storage like how
grape wine was fermented in wooden barrel in the West for
cultivating an unique fragrance. Kenna said it was never easy to
obtain such bamboo sake nowadays, even from Japan. There was a
stripe of white cloth attached to the cork. The words that were
written on the cloth said "A Precious Sake That Is Reserved For
the Japanese Imperial Army". It was a truly antique item.
When the ghost stake-out experiment began, Ah Toh unplugged the
bamboo sake and carefully poured it into four ritual cups as
offering wine. During the process, a beautiful sake fragrance
filled the whole place; it was certain that would be loved by
anyone, dead or alive. It was not known about its alcohol level
content. But by only inhaling the evaporated portion of the sake,
the investigators would feel a bit drunken. Steadily, Ah Toh tried
very hard to remain sober and measured the accurate level of the
sake at the beginning using a dip stick. They would be measured
again at the end and compared to the initial levels, so to figure
out if any of the sake was evaporated or consumed abnormally by
some invisible entity.
¡@
 
1 - 3. The offering setup continues to
emit luring energy to the spirits
4. We don't know if it has successfully attracted many spirits. But
surely an insect was dying to soak into the fragrant sake
 
1. Normal light spectrum; 2. Monotone
phantom light spectrum; 3. Multi-channel phantom light spectrum;
4. Kirlian-like photo that reveals what are supposed to be most alluring
to the spirits: the offering wine and candles (in dark blue color)
 
1 & 2. Our video camera crew won't let
go of any slight opportunity to capture any spirit for research
3. Offering light as seen by our naked eyes; 4. Spiritual light as
revealed from our special camera prototype
Something was Watching Us!
The ghost stake-out had started. In the quiet of the night, all
the investigators can hear will be their breathing as they
squatted down quietly observing the bait. In the background, there
were however noises of the nature under the star-lit sky. As Kenny
was busy shooting photos and Abductboy was video recording
systemically of the ambushed region, Ah Toh advised the team by
sign language to move over to the North checking out the main
platform of the shrine ruin on top. Unattended. The static video
recording continued at the bait zone.
On the top there were the shrine compounds once located. Now there
was no undergrowth by wild vegetation.
They picked a way among the trees, and their mobile detectors were
brought along,
carefully avoiding the many writhing and interlacing roots when
they roamed around the area. The ground was somewhat sinister, and as they
moved towards the North it seemed that trees became taller, darker and
thicker. There was no sound, except the faint Shinto music
propagated from the bait zone in the middle of the stairway.
For the moment there was no
whispering or movement among the branches; but they all got an
uncomfortable feeling that they were being watched with
disapproval, deepening to dislike and even enmity. The feeling
steadily grew, until they found themselves looking up quickly, or
glancing back over their shoulders, as if they expected a sudden
blow.
There was not as yet any sign of a path, and the trees seemed
constantly to bar their way. The detectors were picking up
signals, but they were not bothered. Kenny suddenly felt that he could
not bear it any longer, and without warning let out a shout. He
chanted a short prayer according to his religion.
The others halted startled; but the cry fell as if muffled by a
heavy curtain. There was no echo or answer through the wood seemed
to become more crowded and more watchful than before.
Was that the result of fear of the unknown in a dark jungle?
This place really gave a creep. The worse had to come. At the
corners of their eyes, they vaguely saw things flashing pass. They
were seen by the peripheral part of eye sights. It was like a
simple experiment that you can do it yourself: Cover your eyes
with a hand and try to see forward with your eye lids closed. In
the dark you would see residuals of glows in all colors flying
around. These are not your visions, but images left over from the
signals on your optical nerves. This should be a logical
phenomenon on how a person 'sees' extra things in the dark, let
alone ghost sighting. Also, that is similar to some claims that
during meditation when the eyes were closed, the practitioners
'visualize' images, probably from their imagination or from their
minds.
Once they recalled this explanation, their anxiety subsided. But
then they started hearing voices - very soft notes of sighing and
groaning but from a mass of at least hundreds if not thousands
of entities. The voices sounded like background noises from far away,
distorting the faint Shinto music at the bait zone. No meaningful
word could be interpreted from those voices except an intense
mixture emotions of the voices could be felt. The investigators
were paying attention to the faint voices trying to confirm if
they were real or just imagination.
At the same time, Kenny replied through a prayer from whisper to
out loud. He started to have a dialogue with the voices, asking
them if they know about the hidden treasure. He was frowning, and
big sweat was rolling down on his stiff face. Out of a sudden,
Abductboy yelled to abort the whole operation. Decisively he
almost dragged the team out of this abominable wood back to the
stairway, demanding to have things packed up from the bait zone
and leave immediately.
Abductboy later commented, 'It does more harm than good in
communicating with those "voices". I had to stop the operation for
the safety sake of everyone of us.' An immerse fear rose from
their spines, 'Don't forget Master Kenna's harsh warning: Never
agree to what the spirits ask from you.' This warning seemed to be
a bit too far stretched in this case, for the fact that Kenny was only
inquiring if the lost souls know about the hidden treasure.
But with a second thought, what if the voice replied and said
'Yes, I know. I can tell you the truth behind all the secrets,
about the priceless treasure and the ultimate power that can
rewrite the human history, but only by exchanging some promises with me.'
Can anyone resist such a temptation? Can you?!
¡@
 
1. We left the offering alone and
walked away from the observation site that is under hidden
surveillance camera
2 - 4. We proceed to stealthily observe and take photos of the
surrounding, hoping to have a lucky shot or two on the lost spirits
 
The trees, the bush and the soil,
behind which may be millions of souls hiding
The SPI grew very weary. They
retreated slowly with heavy bags of equipment, and they had to
pick their way through a pathless jungle, encumbered by fallen
trees and tumbled rocks.
This
12-hectare park around the reservoir contains areas of primary
rainforest that is rich in wildlife. But they knew it has more
than that.
¡@
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